Fragment 5

'Twas at this season that Prince Athanase
Passed the white Alps—those eagle-baffling mountains[1]
Slept in their shrouds of snow;—beside the ways

The waterfalls were voiceless—for their fountains[2]
Were changed to mines of sunless crystal now,
Or by the curdling winds—like brazen wings

Which clanged along the mountain's marble brow—
Warped into adamantine fretwork, hung
And filled with frozen light the chasms below.[3]

Vexed by the blast, the great pines groaned and swung
Under their load of [snow]—
...
...
Such as the eagle sees, when he dives down
From the gray deserts of wide air, [beheld]
[Prince] Athanase; and o'er his mien (?) was thrown

The shadow of that scene, field after field,
Purple and dim and wide...